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James Mahon Ireland

The Swedish House Mafia’s individual and combined success has struck the world by surprise and they are actually doing what few musical acts never did, they are bowing out on top.

Musical icons have passed from this world at their peak and are immortalized due to this, Kurt Cobain being one of those at their greatest. The Mafia are leaving the music scene as one of the most successful trance groups in history, cementing their status with a song that screams of anthemic melodies and is echoing across clubs and radio playlists from Stockholm to Sydney and Brussels to Beijing.

The song in question is Don’t You Worry Child, which is more than just a sing-a-long fist thumping club anthem but has a very strong message behind it, which is eternal acceptance in the world we live in. We are frenetic, demanding and expecting so much from everything and everyone in our daily lives and the song touches on this chord.

“There was a time, I used to look into my father’s eyes
In a happy home, I was a king I had a gold throne
Those days are gone, now the memories are on the wall
I hear the sounds from the places where I was born”

Very few songs released today, touch upon so much forgetting and realism in our western culture, the song is simple and catchy but also clever and inspiring and as we face into more economic uncertainty, a shaky US election and new chapters in Space exploration, a time should be spent remembering these words

“My father said
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child
See heaven’s got a plan for you”

Q1 . DO you think the eurovision has entered a new era with more credibility and world attention?

eurovision has the same credibility as ever but the media echo is more positive after a the victory of a Western European country

Q2 do u think the new jury will remove block voting?

it depends how objective the jury is founded, it might be easy to “convince” few jury members of a certain result

Q3 with the recent european economic crash do you think some countries in crisis could feel the pinch if they have to host the competition next year?

no ESC is a matter of national pride, so each country will do its best to promote itself in the world, and hosting ESC brings back more money than that was spent on ESC (taxes, guests,….)

Q4 Do you believe as a european community the eurovision projects a strong and positive view of our continent abroad?

it Does; it shows no matter what politiians say, the people of Europe are united in partying and celebrating, they love music and struggle peacefully for a winner, that shows humaity and cleverness

Q5 Germanys success in showing a more fun and energetic side worked in 2006 with the world cup, do you think the eurovision showcases the more fun side of German people and culture?

well the answer is a mixed one. The funny side is important and shows that Germans may have humour indeed. But on the other hand the shows lack a typical German sign. They are mainstreamed, show multicultural interest and modernity, but lack the fever of ESC and most of all, as said before, something that remembers the people that the show is from Germany. So with that the message of Germans being funny gets lost a bit

Q6 have u experiened a larger world interest in eurovision from outside europe?

yes, here are at least 30 people from Australia that show that ESC is one of the most popular TV shows in Australia; on the other hand the music markets have an eye on ESC as far away countries broadcast ESC

Q7 Have jedward shown Eurovision spirit and represented us well?

they show their own spirit and that is a fresh one, as far as fun and partying is concverned that is the spirit of ESC, they represent Ireland quite well and bring fresh blood to ESC

Q8 can germany do the double and win back to back titles?

yes, Lena is my fav and for weeks I think she will make it although the most guys here now prefer Ireland

Hello James!
Here we go. Feel free to ask if you have further questions.
Best, Dieter.

q. Our literature is pretty mind blowing, do you like yeats and joyce and beckett?

a. Very much so – I recently directed and played with 3 musicians in Switzerland Samuel Beckett’s “A Piece of Monologue” in German and English to show the audience the beauty of his original language.

wow what movie did you shoot in galway! of all places?

a. It’s a German TV-movie from 2000 – I would translate the title as “My Green Freedom – a springtime in Ireland” as you can guess some sentimental stuff – but I was the bad guy and therefore it was comfortable enough for me.

Id like to ask you a few questions not about the usual stuff. Human Centipede, but more about you from one actor to another as our college is hosting the ISDA, IRISH STUDENT DRAMA AWARDS festival and the cream of irish college drama will be around and i was wondering could i interview you for our college paper offering advice to young aspiring theatre and film actors

q1 what first drew you to theatre and acting as an art form?

I grew up in a kind of baptists sect and was forced to hear, pray and read at least 3 hours per day the powerful Bible-language of Martin Luther (1545) the first German translator. The good side of this torture was that I developed a love for beautiful, poetic and strong language. Where was a better place to find for this poetic passion than the theatre? So I decided to become an actor – but because I was brainwashed, I first had to accept that I would have to pay for this capital sin by burning in hell for ever.

q2 When you think of Irish theatre of film what comes to mind?

Spontaneously Kenneth Branagh and his great Shakespeare adaptions for film – although he left Ireland quite young.

q3 Do you feel that there are varied acting styles between irish and german actors?

I think Irish actors have more power and they are able to really be rude because they have much more to fight for a living than German actors – security creates cowards.

q4 the two biggest movies to hit ireland of german origin are Run Lola Run and Downfall, do ye think that german cinema often likes to stray into the mainstream?

Meanwhile I very seldom watch theatre or film, I only want to do it. So I haven’t seen “Lola”. – “Downfall” is a very professional made movie – but I hate it because it needs to tell by Credit-Text in the end that 6 Million Jews were murdered! It fits to the attitude “We poor Germans” seduced and blindfolded by demons like Hitler. Thats wrong!! The German People have to admit the guilt of the whole German Nation. In this regard ‘Downfall’ is indeed very mainstream.

q5 What first drew you to your world wide role in Human Centipede?

First, the passion of the director Tom Six and the producer his sister Ilona Six – and second when I discovered the black humor in it and the possibility to portray a cartoonish Nazi-Psyche I had to do it.

q6, What kind of person does it take to play a villain as many striving actors feel that they offer more challenges than a nice pleasant character

Indeed villains are often more interesting to play than pleasant characters! The right looks can help but more important you have to be a “character-actor” just to be only mean or just to be only nice is mostly rather boring. So underneath the entertaining surface you try to develop some kind of personal substance, some kind of your “truth” about human existence. In case of “Centipede” the Nazi-Psyche became my vehicle to drive through the story.

q7, If you had to act with one Irish actor who would it be?

Any actor/actress with passion and a “clean actor’s soul” which means a person who together with her partners wants to give the audience an exiting story and not only wants to tell something about the own personality.

q8, Do you feel that history and especially dotted history plays a role in shaping theatre of our times as we explore and become comfortable with our own patchy history?

I don’t think that I do understand your question properly – but regarding history – I think theatre should always deal with the Past and the Future, preferably at the same time. In my opinion theatre is much too slow to deal profoundly with the actual Presence. The works of the great poets survived decades and centuries because their stuff still covers the presence and still projects into the future. Even the good writers of our time often go back or further on to get a better overview and deeper vision.

q9, who would you most like to play opposite from the world of hollywood film

I don’t know – I have no idol – but I had the honor to play in European productions with Julie Christie and Burt Lancaster, with Glenn Close and John Malkovich – and all of them were “clean-actor’s-souls” and indeed it was a great honor to work with these humble people.

q10, finally will you come back to Ireland and walk into one of our lecturers and scare our proffesors!

Sure thing! I will do so! I’ll come in and say: “Shut up!!! Time has come to finally stop you telling pure shit to the poor students. Go home and talk to yourself in front of your bathroom mirror.”

Here we go, 2011, welcome to the penultimate year of existence according to our Mayan Brothers,
We as irish people stand on the verge of political change over, emigration and bleakness, europe as an entity is getting tighter in many respects and looser in others, some say we are closing in on the United States Of Europe fear, others say we may break apart as the EU while the Euro is thrown around like a spoilt child among divorced family members.
College Fees rise, grants are cuts, banks go bust, galway niteclubs Gpo and Cuba Fail to make it new years day as Zhivago Falls into Liquidation,while hotels and airlines deal with laying off staff and dole queues stretch into eternal darkness and confusion mixed with the spoon of uncertainty. not to mention superquinn in NAAS!
as a people, we veer to extremes, we are either very rich or very poor, we are either vv serious and on the dry or polluted drunk, we are lavish and extravagant or dirt skint,is it in our nature to be extremists, occupation for 800 years, and the release that came with it led to nationalist passions and madness in the years of our BOOM

in my fathers life time, he has seen emigration in the 50s, stability in the 60s, emigration in the 70s and 80s, and prosperity in the 90s and noughties, and now emigration once again.

what does this say about us?do we not learn from our mistakes, is the philosophy of drinking through the misery enough, when will we learn,

out of these economic and financial black holes and dole and unemployment has come artistic expression. we produce more multi platinum musicians per head than any other nation in the world, we have produced more nobel winning writings per head than any other nation and we are mad creative!

music, art, writing for screen-theatre-novels-poetry, you name it we do it! and we paint ur shed for ya too!

so from 2011 to 2018 ish if we exist that long where will the James Joyces, Becketts, U2’s and Cranberries come, the honest answer is from the misery around us, so look around next time you queue to buy a euromillions lotto ticket or collect your dole cheque, the person beside you could lift our nations spirits, on a playing field, on a musical stage, or at an oscar or grammy cermony,we have had more sporting success and eurovision wins in bad times then we have in good!